- A study from the Hospital for Special Surgery published in the Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine shows that platelet-rich plasma (PRP) holds great promise for treating patients with knee osteoarthritis. The treatment consistently improved pain and function, and in nearly ¾ of the study participants appeared to delay the progression of osteoarthritis which is a progressive disease.
“This is a very positive study,” said Brian Halpern, M.D., lead author of the study and chief of Sports Medicine Service at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City.
PRP (Platelet Rich Plasma) is a new treatment that is being used by a small but growing number of doctors. PRP, which is produced from a patient’s own blood is given back into the body as an injection, delivering a high concentration of growth factors to an arthritic joint to stimulate the healing process. Dr Halpern explains the simple procedure this way- “You take a person’s blood, you spin it down, you concentrate the platelets, and you inject a person’s knee with their own platelets in a concentrated form. This then activates growth factors and stem cells to help repair the tissue, if possible, calm osteoarthritic symptoms and decrease inflammation.”
In the study, researchers enrolled patients with early osteoarthritis, gave them each an injection of PRP , and then monitored them for one year. They used validated measures to assess overall knee pain, stiffness and function, as well as a patient’s ability to perform various activities of daily living. At baseline and then one year after the PRP injection, physicians also evaluated the knee cartilage with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
It is generally accepted that patients with osteoarthritis lose roughly five percent of knee cartilage per year, the Hospital for Special Surgery investigators found that a large majority of patients in their study had no further cartilage loss after one year.
Treatment with PRP was also useful in improving pain, stiffness and function with a reduction of between 42 % nearly 60 % at six months and one year. Activity of Daily Living Scores also showed a significant increase at both six months (47%) and one year (56%).
Dr. Halpern said, “We are entering into an era of biologic treatment…, where you can use your own cells to try to help repair your other cells, rather than using a substance that is artificial. The downside is next to zero and the upside is huge.”
Osteoarthritis impacts nearly 30 million Americans and is a leading cause of disability. It affects a third of those older than 65. The disease is characterized by degeneration of cartilage and its underlying bone within a joint as well as bony overgrowth.
For more about PRP treatment see prp https://drsobo.com/dr-sobos-prp-platelet-rich-plasma-program/
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